It's an insult because the person saying it is insinuating that, because you beat him, you have no better things to do than play games all the time while everyone else is out having sex with women. Which is quite ironic, because if you need to be a tryhard to beat the person in question, the person is probably also spending too much time behind the keyboard.

DVS BSTrD:I always thought it was troll try harder? I couldn't see this as an insult, just patronizing.

That was my assumption as well, but based upon what people have said I think it's like "noob" where you use it aimed at somebody. Like "You are such a try-hard." and it seems to be used to imply that somebody is trying too hard, as opposed to telling them to try harder.

For me this term goes back to Xan from Unreal tournament, i was never able to kill him even when trying hard, and one of his responses was try harder. I thought this wasn't calling me a 'try harder' which is a terrible insult.I thought it was him telling me to try harder, which was insulting as i was already trying hard. So i just had to do better. (Sorry that is a bit of a ramble but it makes sense in my head).

The only time I feel "try hard" applies is when someone's going out of their way to show off how good they are rather than just playing the game, and end up ruining other people's experience in the process.

Most common example I can think of comes from playing TF2. I generally spend a lot of time on 2Fort servers, and being as boring as it is, sometimes things like little truces break out. So when you have about 5 Heavies from both teams sitting in the sewers just eating sandwiches and messing around, you don't really want a Sniper coming along and proving his leet skills by sniping a bunch of people who aren't even attempting to fight back.I guess it's not really an insult, but that's what I think a try hard is.

BiscuitTrouser:I use try hard differently from most. I use it to refer to people to whom losing is physically painful. Where winning is literally their everything and it isnt enough that they win. Everyone needs to know they won. And every mistake or loss needs to be blamed, or deflected or excused on someone else. Every victory MUST be gloated about and every mistake a team mate makes MUST be mocked to the enemy team. These people validate themselves on others "Knowing" they are the best and its never their fault they lose and they are perfect. I hate these people a lot. THESE are try hards to me. Whiny attention seekers who demand fealty for the victories and sympathy for their "plight" should they lose and its OBVIOUSLY something/someone elses fault.

Wouldn't it make things a lot simpler just to call them needy pricks? I have to agree with the op that it makes no sense to attach a negative connotation to trying hard at something. It makes us seem really lazy. Not that we aren't, but do we really want to advertise it that much?

DasDestroyer:The way I see it used and use it in Dota 2 is to insult people who do every little thing to win, rather than just playing for fun. Don't get me wrong, everyone wants to win, but when you pick the easiest character, use the easiest build on that character and then use the easiest pub strategy you're crossing a line.

And who would be the easiest hero with the easiest build that is actually worth anything against semi-experienced players?

OT: Only time I've heard it in DOTA 2 is when my team buys invis detection items against invis heros. Hilarious.

Drow Ranger with Shdow Blade. Even if you get dust, it's not like she ever needs to run away after raping your face, and good luck getting a random Normal-level pub to work together to shut her down when half the people don't speak english despite being on the US server and the other half just not giving a shit.Or if more than 1 player - PL and KOTL. Enjoy getting harassed out of your lane while PL freefarms and see if your team cares.

"Try Hard" as an insult is usually referring to the fact that people whom it's directed at go out of their way to get any slight advantage they can via exploiting mechanics/item builds/talents and what not instead of actually having fun and learning how to play what they find fun to the extent of people whom they are trying to get the advantage over.

I rarely use this term due to the fact that I don't normally insult people, but there have been a few occasions when I have come across people whom "Try Hard" would be an accurate description of them:

TF2 - I mained Sniper, I had 200+ hours of Sniper alone (Also 80-150 hours of all other classes) I had gotten very good at the game, whenever I killed one of these "Try Hards" they'd opt for 1 of 2 options; Using the same class as me (They think the class is overpowered rather than me actually knowing how to use it) or they pick the counter class for me and use items specifically designed to kill me rather than to help their team. This has had some game-ending results of the entire enemy team picking Sniper to try (Often failing) to kill me while my team wins the game.

WoW - In Battlegrounds I hold my own, I do some capping, defending and the occasional bit of killing (If there's nothing else to be doing due to flags being held and waiting for a co-ordinated strike or something) often times I try and kill Rogues when I can since I know how much they can mess with key players on my team. This usually annoys them and on a few occasions I get the 2-3 Rogues on the enemy team going around as a group ONLY targeting me and all hitting at the same time. Again this tends to leave their team at a disadvantageous position (They're playing 2-3 down while my team only has me not participating) and the rest of my team normally wins.

These are the only times I've come across people whom I'd call "Try Hards", they try hard at getting revenge usually to the detriment of their team.

DasDestroyer:The way I see it used and use it in Dota 2 is to insult people who do every little thing to win, rather than just playing for fun. Don't get me wrong, everyone wants to win, but when you pick the easiest character, use the easiest build on that character and then use the easiest pub strategy you're crossing a line.

And who would be the easiest hero with the easiest build that is actually worth anything against semi-experienced players?

OT: Only time I've heard it in DOTA 2 is when my team buys invis detection items against invis heros. Hilarious.

Ever heard any of the following:

GG then AMAnti-Mage pickers!

I've heard it a few times in pubs and jokingly in some Competitive games, due to the fact he can farm up pretty fast and then just roll over most heroes.

To me, "try hard," like most gaming insults, speaks more of the accuser than the accused. There was a topic a few days ago asking people what they think are the worst aspects of gaming as a whole... I didn't have the time to read through it or post in it, but if I had (and I'm understanding the original question correctly), I probably would have said gamers themselves are the worst aspect. I can't stand the people who are so incredibly arrogant and/or insecure about a video game that they feel the need to trash talk. I rarely bother to dignify it with a response.

I don't play a whole lot of online multiplayer, but I see this a ton in pretty much all of the Call of Duty games. Especially lately in Modern Warfare 3. I was bored a few weeks ago and decided to pick up the game again for a distraction, and it's hilarious how much "try hard" gets thrown around. I was working on getting all the titles/emblems for each of the weapons, and man... that H&K MP-7 SMG was a massive target of their ire, as if the act of equipping it automatically puts your skill at the game into question. Nevermind that I used it exclusively to get the unlocks and then immediately ditched it, since I don't think it's as good as everyone seems to think it is.

But then a weird thing occurred where people started accusing me of being a "try hard" when I was getting the unlocks for the KSG-12 and SPAS-12. So apparently using guns that the community finds overpowered and doing well with them makes you a "try hard," and yet so does doing well with guns that the community finds underpowered. Just can't win, I guess.

I think most people say it as a way of mocking people who are good at a game because they feel that the person who is good is putting all of their time and effort into being good at the game while the person saying the insult feels they are "too cool' to be good at a game because they are off doing other things that they feel the "try hard" doesn't do.

A try hard is someone who takes games way too seriously and often freaks out upon either victory or defeat. I guess its theoretical extreme would be some dude ranting how he's "MLG Mario Party" and re-enacts Hotel Rwanda after each lost minigame.

My apologies. That analogy was terrible. That's just how a regular game of Mario Party progresses.

EDIT: It's when somebody takes a game so seriously that fun and enjoyment have taken a backseat role to winning.

Because people insecure about their internet penises and make sure that even if someone cares more about the game than you you have to have ammunition to shoot at them at to prove to yourself that you're better than them.

First time I heard the term was on the Blog of an SC2 Liquipedia player who partly makes up for a rather snobbish view of his game with greater eloquence than your average blogger. He considers it to be someone who has poor skill in SC2 yet tries so hard they would be much better if they learned 'builds', also a Terran who lifts off and flies their buildings to the corners of the map when it's clear they can't possibly come back, thus 'wasting' both of their time.

Another equally jerkish use in DotA 1; a player who doesn't acknowledge when a game is a lost cause and continues to try to win instead of leaving despite a massive disparity of levels and gear. Tryhard = pun version of diehard. As I said, equally snobbish; 'How dare you not quit when I gain a large advantage over you'.

Without reading ANY of the replies.Try hard is an insult because NO PLAYER wants to be in the game with "that guy".It doesn't mean that you try, I try in games, that doesn't make me a try hard, you should try. A try hard is a player that doesn't see the game as fun anymore, they see it as a way to win.To use league of legends as an example, you join a random blind (unranked) and decide, "hey, I'm going to try AD malzahar (an AP carry, with a passive that scales on AD), one of the guys in the match (The try hard) is dead-set against this. They don't want to have fun, the don't want to experiment, they only want to win, even though it's not in ranked and means that they lose NOTHING from not winning.

Pretty much anything can used as an insult given the right tone.Jew. The noun for someone of jewish beliefs for example.

To me tryhards are people who try almost too hard to be something they are clearly not or not meant to be.Donte from DmC from example for me is trying to hard to be the cheesy and awesome original but ends up as being an unlikable douchebag and childish.

So what I'm getting from this thread is:It's someone who takes a game seriously enough to actually want to win, and will take steps to ensure that this happens?

If this is correct, I don't see the issue. Why are we to punish those that want to put more effort into something. We should actually be praising them. But I know, society these days seems to value under-achievement, so much that we should cater all forms of entertainment to the lowest common denominator and those who do not follow suit are either "try-hards", "munchkins" or "elitists".

Strazdas:To me a try hard is a person who concentrates on the win only and forgets that you can also have fun with a game.

Just putting this out there: Maybe that is their fun? Who is anyone else to judge?

OP: I'm gald I don't really play online games. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't play games to be bad at them or to scream for easy mode because I can't play the game as is. If that's your thing that's fine - up to a point. I myself actually do put some effort toward winning. If someone else wants to put even more effort than I do, all the more power to them.

Strazdas:To me a try hard is a person who concentrates on the win only and forgets that you can also have fun with a game.

Just putting this out there: Maybe that is their fun? Who is anyone else to judge?

Im not talknig about those people. im talknig about those that think games are made to win, all else be damned and wining is a default operation that must be obeyed at any cost. theres no fun in there. these type of people usually avoid open ended games because "i cant win it its not a game".

Strazdas:To me a try hard is a person who concentrates on the win only and forgets that you can also have fun with a game.

Just putting this out there: Maybe that is their fun? Who is anyone else to judge?

Im not talknig about those people. im talknig about those that think games are made to win, all else be damned and wining is a default operation that must be obeyed at any cost. theres no fun in there. these type of people usually avoid open ended games because "i cant win it its not a game".

Obviously there must be some fun in there if they derive pleasure from that...Again -- if that is what they think is fun, all the more power to them. Who is anyone else to judge them for it?

There are games where I really get invested into strategy, and it's a big thrill to triumph when you've put work into winning. I also own MP games where it's all about fun. The only thing is, I usually don't have the kind of time to mess around with other people who are being dicks online for any reason, mostly because it never really goes anywhere (also I refuse to talk on mic in anon games because I'm gay, but that's another story). If someone gets mad that I'm taking things seriously, then I disconnect and find another team. If someone's upset that I'm jumping around and taking things more lightly, then I do the same. It's just a matter of finding players who share your goals, and great games can be had when that occurs (private servers are the best things ever btw).

Just putting this out there: Maybe that is their fun? Who is anyone else to judge?

Im not talknig about those people. im talknig about those that think games are made to win, all else be damned and wining is a default operation that must be obeyed at any cost. theres no fun in there. these type of people usually avoid open ended games because "i cant win it its not a game".

Obviously there must be some fun in there if they derive pleasure from that...Again -- if that is what they think is fun, all the more power to them. Who is anyone else to judge them for it?